The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-01-13
BILL ARP
p,soourses on the Day we Celebrate.

/
Disoourses on the Day we Celebrate.
When was little boy, l had grea
deal of curiosity. There was kind
good hearted blacksmith who kept 6
shop on the street, and I used to stoF
there and look at him work, and if he
was upsetting an axe or laying plow,
would watch him as he heated and ham
mered, and heated again, and then pu'
borax on it and hammered again, and al
every change 1 would ask, "Wbat did
you do that for9" For awhile he hu
mored me and would explain in simple
way, but when he got tired OF me, his
reply was sure to be, "oh, did that just
to please the children" and he would
hammer away and hum little tune, just
as though wasn't there.
Well, he told the truth, though per-
haps be didn't realize it, for he had q
house full of little chaps and all his hard
work was for them. That good old
blacksmith was next to the best man |
ever knew, and to this day 1 never think
of him but what / call to mind that ex
preston, sJust to please the children
and every time 1 hear the clank Of a
hammer on the anvil, it seems to me to
be saying "pleasing the children, pleas.
ing the children"
Pleasing the children is about all that
the majority of mankind are living for,
though they don't realize it and if they
did they would hardly acknowledge 1T
Itis empbatically the great business OF
this subunary life. We look on with
amazement at the busy crowds in the
town and cities that are ever going to
and fro, and the most of them are work.
ing and struggling to please and main
tain children. It is the excuse for all
the mad rush of business that hurries
mankind through the world. 1t is the
apology for yearly all the stealing and
cheating and lying in the land. One
time man sold me Poland China SOW
for SIS and she eat up S. worth of chick
ems the day / got her, and when asked
him why he didn't tell me she was a
chicken eater, he smiled and said he
thought would find it out soon enough.
He spent the money on his children and
so 1 had to forgive him. Sometimes
when I ruminate upon the meanness OF
we grown up folks, I wish that the chill
dren would never get grown, for they
don't get very mean or foolish until they
do.
Now the biggest part Of all this Christ
mas business is to please the children.
or course there is service in the churches,
aud the good, pious people celebrate the
day in prayer and devotion, but most of
it is for the children. The stores are
thronged with parents hunting some
thing for them. The Christmas trees are
for them, and all the dolls and wagons
and tea sets and pocket knives and harps
and firecrackers and thousand other
things too numerous to mention. Why
there will be Eve thousand dollars spent
in this county this week for Christmas
gifts. There will be half a million in
the State. There will be twenty mill
ions in the United States. and it's nearly
all for children. So, my young friends,
you must understand how very impor.
tant you are in this worlds affairs, but
you needen't get uppity nor bigoty about
it, for that spoils all the old folks pleas
ure.
Now, let us all imagine we are around
the cheerful Christmas fire and talk
about Christmas and tell what it means.
Of course you know that it is the ami
versary of the birth of Christ, and all
Christian people celebrate it. Its very
common everywhere to celebrate birth.
days. Americans make big fuss over
Washipgton's birthday because he was
called the father of his country. Ny
folks make little fuss over my birthday
and my good wife's birthday. They
don't toot horns nor pop frecrackers
but they have an extra good dinner aud
fix up pleasant surprise of some sort
We used to surprise the children with q
little present like pocket.knife, or d
pair ofscissors, or sleeve buttons, or some
thing, but so many children came along
that there was birthday in sight
almost all the time, and as we got rich
in children we got poor i'll money and
had to skip over sometimes The 4,h ol
July was the birthday of a nation and
so the nation always celebrates that day,
Christians began to observe Christmas
about l 500 years ago at Jerusalem and
Rome. They had service in the churches
and made it a day of rejoicing. In
course of time the young people rather
lost sight of the sacredness of the day
and the devotion that was due to The
occasion, and made it a day of frolic and
feasting. They sang hilarious songs,
because they said the shepherds sang
songs at Bethlehem. They made pres
ents to each other because they said the
wise men from the east brought presents
to the young child and its mother. They
kept up their festivities all night because
the Saviour was born at midnight. The
Roman Catholic church has observed
these annual celebrations for centuries
and the Church of England took them
no, and 30 did the Protestants in Germa.
ny and other countries. Christians
everywhere adopted them, and Christmas
day became a universal holiday except
among the Puritans of New England, who
! forbade it under penalties. They never
frolicked or made merry over anything